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Gr 4-6—Eleven-year-old Nicholas is a music and math genius who has trouble relating to most people. Baker has placed small italicized musical dynamics (forte, pianissimo, crescendo) throughout the text, emphasizing Nick's thought patterns. When his family home is in jeopardy of being sold, Nick takes it upon himself to find legendary family heirlooms, hoping they can save his house. Despite his lack of social skills, he gains the help of other social misfits from school as well as two grandfathers sprung from a nursing home, one being his senile Grandpa Rose. Their hideout is a crumbling, haunted house where they all work at unraveling the clues to finding the treasure. Throughout comical, quirky scenarios involving a seance, a confrontation with high school toughs in smuggler tunnels, and romps in a graveyard where the final clue and solution is found, Baker maintains a steady pace. Written with tongue-in-cheek humor, the characters engage in some unsafe and unsavory practices as they go about their adventures—dueling with firecrackers, setting fire to stolen backpacks, lying, and stealing. In the hands of savvy, mature readers, this intriguing and multilayered novel will provoke interesting discussions.—D. Maria LaRocco, Cuyahoga Public Library, Strongsville, OH

Eleven-year-old Nicholas Funes, a musical and mathematical genius and all-around outcast, tells this adventure story through notes left behind in a dresser drawer, leading readers to believe that something awful has befallen him. Quirky Nicholas (his closest relationship is with a tree planted in memory of his deceased brother) meets his ex-con grandfather, whose disjointed tale of missing family heirlooms gives Nicholas hope to save his family's house. "Help me find what I buried, and you won't lose anything," promises Grandpa Rose. Other misfits, young and old, join in the search for the heirlooms and form a tight bond. Smugglers caves, graveyards, ghost houses, seances, and tattooed maps come together to make an intriguing mystery for the group to solve as the characters wrestle with their past selves in hopes of a better future. The story is enhanced with musical and mathematical notations (terms like "forte" and "piano" appear as subscript throughout, modifying actions and dialogue), giving readers a glimpse into Nicholas's impressive brain and adding an unusual layer of interest and beauty to debut author Baker's storytelling. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sarah Burnes, Gernert Company. (Mar.)